The Cavaliers signed free agent Scotty Hopson for the remainder of this season and have included a non-guaranteed team option for next season.

Hopson will receive the pro-rated $2.5 million room exception (roughly $1.3 million) and the non-guaranteed second season is worth about $1.44 million. By overpaying for Hopson now, the Cavs just manufactured a large trade bullet to fire this summer.

CLEVELAND: Thirteen thoughts for 13 points by Spencer Hawes (and 13 shots from Paul George) in an awfully impressive 90-76 win over the Pacers that just might count as the biggest win of the season…

1. When the Cavs’ deep thinkers recently plotted a path to the playoffs, there were two absolutes: They absolutely had to at least split these weekend games against the Nets and Pacers and they absolutely have to beat the Hawks on Friday. Conquer those two and they’ve got a real shot at making the playoffs after all.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.: In order for the Cavs to slide into the playoffs in a few weeks, the feeling throughout the organization was they had to find a way to split against two of the best teams in the East this weekend.

After Friday’s 108-97 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, that leaves Sunday’s game against the conference-leading Indiana Pacers.

DETROIT: That’s two games at the Palace, two stunning fourth-quarter comebacks for the Cavaliers.

Dion Waiters’ contested, fadeway jumper from just inside the 3-point arc gave the Cavs an incredible 97-96 comeback victory against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday after they began the fourth quarter trailing by 16.

CLEVELAND: Seventeen thoughts for 17 Cavs assists in the first half of what became a strange 102-100 win against the Toronto Raptors…

1. I’ve been meaning to write this for a while, but I never got around to it. I’ll get to tonight’s game in a minute, but it’s fascinating to me the Cavs will probably finish with a better winning percentage against the mighty Western Conference than they will their East brethren. This does sort of relate to tonight’s win at least a little, so hang with me.

CLEVELAND: Dion Waiters had 24 points and seven assists and the Cavaliers squandered a 21-point lead before surviving to beat the Toronto Raptors 102-100 on Tuesday.

The Cavs failed twice to get the ball inbounded in the game’s final seconds, giving the Raptors a shot to tie it or win it at the buzzer. But Greivis Vasquez drove into the lane and threw wildly behind him for a turnover.

NEW YORK: Seventeen thoughts for 17 assists in the Cavs’ surprising 106-100 win over the Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden…

1. One of the few things Mike Brown dislikes more than a small lineup is being reactive to what the opponent is doing. He swallowed hard and did both Sunday. It’s the only reason the Cavs left the Garden victorious.

NEW YORK: Jarrett Jack scored a season-high 31 points, Dion Waiters had 22 and the Cavaliers erased a 17-point deficit in the first half to storm out of Madison Square Garden with a 106-100 victory Sunday against the New York Knicks.

The Cavs limited the Knicks to 39 points and 32 percent shooting in the second half after the Knicks enjoyed a 51-34 lead in the second quarter. It’s the Cavs’ second dramatic comeback in about a week after they rallied from 18 down to beat the Golden State Warriors last weekend.

CLEVELAND: The Cavaliers pulled within five points in the final minutes after trailing by 24 in the fourth quarter before falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 102-95 on Thursday.

Kevin Durant had 35 points and 11 rebounds against an injury-ravaged Cavs team that dressed just nine healthy bodies. The Thunder sat Russell Westbrook and still led by 17 entering the fourth, then extended the lead to 95-71 with 6:33 left.

The Cavaliers spent most of this season deftly avoiding injuries, but they’re piling up now at the worst possible time.

Rookie Sergey Karasev is the latest to join the injured ranks, pushing the total to six wounded players (Kyrie Irving, Luol Deng, C.J. Miles, Anthony Bennett, Carrick Felix, Karasev). Now they’ll have a roster decision to make after tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

CLEVELAND: Twenty-two thoughts tonight for 22 points from Jarrett Jack in a 100-96 loss to the Heat at the Q.

1. It’s fascinating how dramatically things can change in such a short period of time. Tonight was LeBron James’ final visit to the Q before he can become a free agent this summer. For the last 2 ½ years, I expected that to be an intense night, with so many questions swirling around his future. Instead it passed like so many other of his trips here as a member of the Heat.

CLEVELAND: Luol Deng will join Kyrie Irving on the bench tonight when the Cavs host the Miami Heat.

Deng sprained his ankle in Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, while Irving will miss two weeks with a strained tendon in his biceps. That means the Cavs will be without their top two leading scorers while facing the two-time defending champions.

LOS ANGELES: The Cavs have endured plenty of miserable starts this season, but Sunday’s against the Los Angeles Clippers was particularly dreadful.

Not only did they fall behind again 17-3 within the first six minutes, but they compounded their problems when Kyrie Irving injured his left biceps late in the first quarter and did not return in what became a 102-80 loss to the Clippers.

OAKLAND, CALIF.: Eleven thoughts following another improbable 103-94 win over the Golden State Warriors…

1. It’s funny how coaches react so differently to the same game. Here was the first thing Warriors coach Mark Jackson said: “Just a bad loss for us.” And the first thing Mike Brown said: “This is a good win.”

PHOENIX: Thirteen thoughts for the 13 inches of snow (or thereabouts) that fell in Cleveland on Wednesday prior to the Cavs’ surprising 110-101 win at Phoenix. I won't tell you that the temperature at tip-off tonight was 81 degrees here...

1. When I joked with Dion Waiters after the game that he was becoming the voice of sound and reason in the Cavs’ locker room, his eyes twinkled and he flashed a wide grin. “I’ve been in the media a lot for being the bad guy,” he said. “I’m changing my image.”

PHOENIX: This time there was no devastating collapse. This time when the Cavs started quickly and built a big lead against the Phoenix Suns, they found a way to hold on.

Kyrie Irving had 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists, including 12 points in the fourth quarter, and the Cavs began this three-game West Coast trip with a 110-101 victory against a team they have struggled holding leads.

CLEVELAND: Eleven thoughts, for obvious reasons, following another stinging 107-97 loss to the New York Knicks on Z's big night...

1. Where to begin? I saw things tonight I never imagined, beginning with LeBron James walking back into Quicken Loans Arena. That in and of itself was quite startling given the circumstances. I laid out James’ impact on this night and his future in this Sunday column, so I’ll try not to rehash too much of it here.

CLEVELAND: The ceremony was nice; the return of LeBron James to Quicken Loans Arena was surreal. But the part that mattered most was the fourth-quarter inefficiency and another stinging loss in a playoff chase quickly circling the drain.

The Cavs failed to hold a brief fourth-quarter lead and fell to the New York Knicks on Saturday 107-97, their fourth consecutive loss to extend their winless March on the night the franchise retired Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ No. 11.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.: Fourteen thoughts, one for every 3-pointer the Cavs missed in what was a damaging 101-92 loss to the Bobcats…

1. I was spitballing with a couple of the players before Friday’s game about the playoffs. We came to the conclusion that if they could sweep the weekend, then steal one win on next week’s West Coast trip and then snag one during the three-game homestand against Miami, Oklahoma City and Houston, then they’d be 4-4 after this grueling eight-game stretch. It’s all conjecture, but we figured 4-4 at that point would leave them about two games out of the eighth spot with 12 games left, which is certainly manageable given the way the schedule opens up a bit at the end of the season. But anything more than two games out would be tough to overcome.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.: Al Jefferson had 28 points and the Cavs’ faint playoff hopes were dealt a crushing blow Friday with a 101-92 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Cavs went ahead 81-80 on a pair of free throws from Dion Waiters with 7:54 left, but Jefferson and Kemba Walker took over, combining to score 18 of the Bobcats’ final 21 points. The only basket from anyone else was a huge 3-pointer from Josh McRoberts, which extended the Bobcats’ lead to 91-85 with 3:38 left.

CLEVELAND: Thirteen thoughts for 13 first-quarter points from the Spurs, back when it looked like the Cavs had a chance in what eventually became a 122-101 thrashing at the hands of the Spurs…

1. Gregg Popovich was in a good mood today, and that was before his team destroyed the Cavs in the second half. When Pop is in a good mood and feels like talking, it’s in your best interest to listen. And Pop had it rolling tonight before the game.

INDEPENDENCE: Dion Waiters expects to play Tuesday when the Cavaliers host the San Antonio Spurs.

Waiters missed seven games with a knee injury and is the first of the Cavs’ injured trio to return. Mike Brown said there was a slim chance Anderson Varejao could also return Tuesday, but that isn’t likely. C.J. Miles is still out with a sprained ankle and said he hopes to be ready to play by the start of the Cavs’ West Coast trip on March 12.